Five Asian dramas to watch this week, from Doctor X to The Remarried Empress

02Number five: The Remarried Empress, a palace story without history homework

The Remarried Empress starts on Wednesday, November 4, on Disney+, and on Hulu in the United States. It has ten episodes: the first four arrive on the first day, then two more every Wednesday until the finale on November 25.

It is adapted from a Naver webtoon. Shin Min-a plays Navier, the Empress of the Eastern Empire. The Emperor, played by Ju Ji-hoon, ends their marriage to be with Rashta, played by Lee Se-young. Navier does not simply accept it. She asks to remarry, and the man she chooses is Prince Heinrey, played by Lee Jong-suk.

The appeal is simple: it is a palace story set in a fantasy world, so you do not need to know any real history to follow it.

03Number four: Dive Into You, the time-travel pick on Viki

Dive into You is a Viki Original that premiered on September 26 and airs on weekends. Kim Ji-yeon, known as Bona of the group WJSN, plays Yoon Ha-na, a famous actress who swaps bodies with her twin brother, Ha-ru, played by Jang Se-hyuk. With an old camcorder, the two travel back in time to save her first love, Jung Woo-jae, played by Park Seo-ham.

Viki announced that it ranked first in 109 countries in its premiere week, from Brazil and France to India and Thailand. That is Viki's own count, so it cannot be compared with Netflix views. Check Viki's availability in your country before you plan the evening. It is the only time-travel love story on the list.

04Number three: 100 Days of Deception and a mission with a clock

The first title from the Netflix list is 100 Days of Deception, with 2.8 million views in its first week on the chart. That placed it fourth on Netflix's global chart for non-English series, and second in South Korea and Vietnam. It premiered on October 10 on tvN and Netflix, with sixteen episodes, as a special project for tvN's twentieth anniversary.

The story is set in 1932 in Seoul, then called Gyeongseong, under Japanese rule. Kim You-jung plays Lee Ga-kyung, a pickpocket who wants to reach America. A resistance group offers her a mission: go undercover as an interpreter trainee in the colonial government and finish in one hundred days. Park Jin-young plays Kim Tae-woong, a skilled interpreter she meets there.

My reason to watch: the story has a clock from the first minute, a hundred days and one mission.

05Number two: Take Charge of My Heart, the romantic comedy

Take Charge of My Heart arrived all at once: Netflix released all ten episodes on October 9. In its second week it had 6.4 million views, second place on the global chart for non-English series, and it was second in Hong Kong, Indonesia and the Philippines.

Kim Young-kwang plays Baek Ho-rang, a man whose artificial heart is failing. Chae Soo-bin plays a woman who can generate electricity, and the story begins when her power turns out to be exactly what his heart needs. It is based on a web novel, and it is the only romantic comedy here. Its title explains the whole idea.

06Number one: Doctor X: Mafia in White, the one most people are watching

Doctor X: Mafia in White had 7.1 million views in its second week. In its first week it had 4.6 million, so it grew by more than half and stayed first on Netflix's chart for non-English series. It was also first in Hong Kong, Indonesia, the Philippines, Singapore and South Korea. It premiered on October 9 on SBS and Netflix and airs on Fridays and Saturdays, twelve episodes in total.

Kim Ji-won plays Gye Su-jeong, a skilled surgeon known as Doctor X, who is sent to Guseo University Hospital by a staffing agency. In that hospital, hierarchy, money and influence come before patients, and the people behind that system are the white mafia of the title. The drama adapts the Japanese series Doctor-X: Surgeon Michiko Daimon. Lee Jung-eun plays the head of the agency, and Son Hyun-joo plays the hospital's branch director.

Next week the numbers change, so the list will change too.

07One more, and a quick guide

Just outside the Netflix top three sits Where the Mask Ends, a Chinese period drama on Youku and Netflix. It had 1.6 million views in its first week and was first in Thailand. Tian Xiwei plays two roles in it.

If you want a fast choice:

• Doctor X for medicine
• Take Charge of My Heart for romance
• 100 Days of Deception for spies
• Dive Into You for time travel
• The Remarried Empress for a palace fantasy

Coming this month: Sword & Silence on KBS2 on November 14, and Blue Road on Netflix on November 20.